ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's volleyball team won their first Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) match of the year over first-year program Calvin University on Thursday night 3-1. The Thunder advance to 10-4 (1-0 MCVL) this season and the Knights fall to 3-11 (0-1 MCVL). It is the seventh straight win for Trine.
Trine had three scorers with double figure kills, led by Kevin Boncaro with 19. Boncaro had a double-double with 10 digs as well. Hunter Haas (16) and Nick Woolley (10) had 10 or more digs as well. The team had 11 aces in total, eight coming from Boncaro (4) and Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai (4).
Boncaro started the game with four consecutive aces and the team would go up 11-1 in a dominant set one. The team would keep a double-digit advantage for a majority of the first set en route to a 25-10 victory. The Thunder had 11 kills and just one error on offense. In set two, Trine would take advantage of a negative hitting performance by Calvin as well as another solid hitting set to take a commanding 2-0 lead at 25-9. A 17-2 run mid-set allowed the Thunder to pull away.
The Knights would turn things around in the third set and keep the match going with a 25-21 win. Trine went up 3-0 thanks to kills by Ethan McLenon and Karl Both, but block errors at the net helped bring Calvin back to even at 13-13. Coming out of a timeout by the Thunder, the Knights went up 20-15. Boncaro was involved in three of four straight points by Trine to get to within one at 20-19, but the Knights pulled it out at the end of the third.
Ted Hofmeister and Boncaro helped withstand the attack by Calvin and a 9-0 run highlighted by a monster kill up the middle by Matt Stillman gave the Thunder a 17-11 edge. Trine would keep their foot on the gas and not relinquish the lead from there to secure the victory, 25-18.
The team's .369 hitting percentage is a season-high and sits inside the top-10 in program history. 55 kills and 53 digs are the most in a four-set match in 2024.
The Thunder remain at home when they face Bethany College on Tuesday, March 5 at 5 p.m.
